TDW: Ascension
by Loose Cannon Doccy
Summary: We never really got to know what actually happened in the Satellite, did we? We never saw the horrors that ended up shaping Jay into what he became for The Darkness Within. Well, this is it. Now we will. BEWARE, WILL GET VERY DARK. AU-centric, in fact very non-canon. I hope you can tolerate that. -DLS
1. Chapter 1: Monkey

**A/N: Here's one of the projects that I've been working on for a little while now. I didn't get the chance to properly explore Project Akron or the Dracomorphic Engine or Chessary Corporation as much as I wanted to in The Darkness Within, so think of this as a side-story to that. The main character is not Jay this time though, instead it is an unnamed coder working for Chessary Corporation as a coder for Project Akron.**

 **Reginald: We'll get to see Jay Alkain's ascension into what he is in The Darkness Within, and what really happened in there.**

 **X: Thanks for not letting us get a word in on the entirety of Act III, by the way.**

 **DLS: Hey, I wanted to keep the flow of Act III smooth and not betray the overall tone of the story, so you had to be quiet for a while.**

 **X: Not an excuse. *kick to the nuts***

 **DLS: (whimper) *falls to the ground***

 **Nathalie: That's right! You deserve it for what you did!**

 **DLS: I didn't want to ruin the *le nutkick* AAAAAAAAAAAAA-**

 **X: Be quiet and just say what you need to say.**

 **DLS: Alright... this is related to The Darkness Within so... a lot of things, in fact nothing will make sense unless you've read it. So do yourself a favor and click away until you've read it, because this will very likely spoil a lot of things in that case.**

 **Can I go now?**

 **X: No. *yet another nut-kick***

* * *

Finding work in New Domino is hard. It's really hard for a guy who's just got some coding experience to find a job that can pay decently. Success isn't really laid out for you here, you really have to work hard in this utopia. Of course, New Domino has fostered some great dueling stars over the years, stars that have went on to be marked down in history as some of the all-time greats.

But I was no good at dueling, I was no showman, and certainly not successful. I only had a measly apartment in downtown New Domino, and just fresh out of work, living on borrowed time as I struggled to find a job that could pay well enough.

Enter Chessary Corporation. The world's leading producer of renewable energy, and the creators and current owners of the rights to Ener-D. That invention made them ridiculously rich, and very quickly they began to expand. I got word that they were looking for coders, and the moment I saw it in the newspaper, I immediately applied for the job.

I got the job. It paid well and allowed me to survive and live a comfortable existence in my small apartment, and then I got word through the chain that a division of Chessary was looking for experienced coders for a secret project, and I was asked to join. They said that the job would be difficult, and I would be sworn to secrecy about it for the rest of my life. In return, the pay would be big. Really big. Enough for me to buy myself a house.

And so, in my naiveté, I accepted the offer. I was told to meet in a week in the Satellite, at a classified location, and I was to tell no one about the job, the location or anything. I shrugged it off, how bad could it be?

Oh how I hated myself for thinking that.

" _-please report to the Dracomorphic Engine chamber immediately,"_ The female voice of the facility's intercom system spoke up through the speaker nearby my workstation, and I knew what that meant. It meant that I would have to man the computer when the Engine would be tested again. I shuddered for a second, remembering what happened last time.

I got up from my working computer, ran a hand over my head, and walked out into the concrete walkway, and walked towards the room where the Engine was stationed. Specifically, the front room, right where the test subjects would be placed inside the Engine, and fortunately, it meant that I wouldn't have to walk through the containment block.

The security guards that walked around the premise gave me cold, strange stares as I occasionally walked past them, as if they could smell my unease in being here. Within moments I was at the door, guarded by two burly guards wielding guns, and I immediately pulled out my ID, and they shuffled to the side to allow me to pass. I walked past them and pushed the door open, there I was, I had arrived at the most horrifying room in existence.

"Hey, there you are, code monkey!" I heard the voice of one of the head scientists here, one Carl Houston call out in his white lab coat as he stood working something out on a notepad. "I've paged for you twice now. We're putting a new subject in the engine in five minutes and the data stream is unstable." As friendly as ever. My face twitched for a moment in annoyance as I walked over to the coding computer that I was to work at, and immediately began evening out the instabilities in the Engine's code as the doors were flung open behind us, and in walked at least five very strong and armed guards, all restraining one kid, who was likely injected with a temporary sedative for until he was hooked up to the engine. I gave the kid a look; usually the kids brought in would flail violently but uselessly as they were brought to the Engine the first time, but the use of sedatives was rare. The only times sedatives had been necessary was when the subject was already a psychic, so it would be a safe bet that he was psychic in some way.

"How are the Dark Energy levels in the sphere?" The voice of Carl Houston called out as the guards dragged the kid over to the engine, placed him inside the soundproofed hardened glass sphere, restrained him and then sealed the sphere. "Ready for Tier 1, doctor!" Another coder called out in response, and then he turned towards me. "Monkey, how is the evening out going?" He asked, just as I worked out the last knot in the circuit, and I gave him thumbs up in response.

"Excellent. I'll notify Kroe immediately. Give the kid a bit of time to wake up. We need him awake when the procedure begins." And with that, Carl Houston pulled out his pager, and began to type into it in order to call Kroe to the area, while I could lean back and relax for a few seconds before the procedure began and I had to be aware of changes in the system as the Dracotherapy began.

"-I'm here, Houston. How is he?" The unmistakable voice of the head honcho here, the voice of Chessary Corporation's finest scientist, Doctor William Edgar Kroe, the one responsible for overseeing this project reverberated throughout the room as his tall, yet worn figure stepped inside the room. "He's shaking off the sedative right about now. He should be ready for the initialization in a moment," Houston replied eagerly. "Excellent. Begin the procedure when ready." Houston nodded for a second, and then turned towards the sphere. "You heard him! Begin the procedure!" Houston declared, and I looked down at my computer as the Engine began to come to spark to life.

I began looking through the code as the procedure began, the dark energy streaming from the container on the other side and into the child in the front. And it was evident that the process was unbearably painful, as the children would scream and writhe as the dark energy was forcibly inserted into their bloodstream, augmenting or outright creating psychic powers, the pain only feeding the dark energy and making it multiply.

"Dark energy levels stable!" A voice called out through the dissonant serenity outside the sphere, where inside it would be a whirlwind of noise and screaming. I could hear the child slam himself against the glass in a desperate attempt to free himself, one that would cause small knocks on the glass that were audible, but not enough to break him free.

That's when I glanced back at the coding, and I could already see abnormalities form in the code. I tried to even them out, but they began to slowly multiply in strange directions and ways that weren't possible. "Dark energy levels rising to 150%!" I called out, and they were just continuously increasing more and more. "200%! 300% 500%!"

"STOP THE PROCEDURE!" Kroe's voice then rung out over us all. Houston was in doubt for a second, before hammering the emergency stop button at his console. The dark energy output halted immediately, the screaming stopped and the glass sphere was flung open.

And for the first time, I got the chance to get a proper look at the kid. He was small, scrawny and meek, having messy brown hair and scratches all over his body. He was clearly picked up from the streets, taken here on promises of food and a place to stay.

The security came to pick up the boy, inject him with his chemical restraints and put him into his cell. I could feel the tension in the air as he was dragged off to his cell, sweat dripping down from my head. Such an enormous level of dark energy output… and only at Tier 1, at that.

"Relax, Monkey," The voice of Houston said gently behind me as he put his hand on my shoulder. "You did good. Take the rest of the day off."

And oh my, did I need it. But what was with that kid? How could he perform such an ascension in energy output during his first session? I realized that I needed to know, I needed to know a lot of things about this project. Taking part in something this horrible; I at least deserved to know what was going on.


	2. Chapter 2: Brutality

**A/N:** **Hello, it's us again! We're here with another little chapter for this story, and we've got something to show. Ever wonder about how Sayer could know about Akron, know about Jay without even having met him? Well, here's your answer. A lot of things were going on in this facility, and a lot of people had a hand in what happened.**

 **Also, we're always starting chapters out with a document, such as the one below, where we reveal a bit more about what's happened. The rest of it is the account of Monkey, telling about what he's seen in there.**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 _From:_ Sayer Divine

 _To:_ chessaryhouston

 _Subject:_ Project Akron on-site inspection report

Dear Carl,

The full report isn't there yet, but I've managed to get a hold of some of it. Of whatever you read below, do not mention it to Kroe. It's important that he remains in the dark about our deal.

Now, to the business at hand; Project Akron seems to be an incredibly revolutionary project of research into the psychic condition; and I see that the psychics I sent you have been put to good use, and I'm glad that we're already this close to knowing how to create artificial psychics.

I also received your message about Alkain, and the results of his first session in the Engine, and I heard just how much dark energy he managed to generate, at Tier 1, even! I mean 500%! That's more than almost every other subject at Tier 4! The potential in this kid is unbelievable; he might just be the one we've been looking for.

I talked to Kroe too about the potential profits of the project as well, and the results he forwarded me were incredible. The Movement will be able to turn into a world-wide organization if this keeps up, and you know what that means.

Remember to under no circumstances allow Kroe to hear or read anything about what I just said. He must NOT find out about the Movement's true purpose.

And do tell me when the kid's due for Tier 4, will you? I'd like to see it personally. Thanks, buddy.

Regards,

Sayer Divine

Chessary Corporation Management

* * *

My silent creeping into Chessary's database revealed some small details to me, nothing of importance. However, the document above I fell over by accident while walking home. Houston wasn't in his office, and so I nabbed the document, and I saw the sender's name first. Sayer Divine, the founder of the Arcadia Movement, was in a high position of power within Chessary Corporation itself?

It began to make sense; I had already heard about the Arcadia Movement through my line of work before. They were supposedly an organization dedicated to keeping people who were psychics safe, as the discrimination against them was very high. It was all a front of Chessary's? And according to it, Houston and Sayer were planning something big with it. What could it be?

And something was with this 'Alkain' that was detrimental to that. I could see his potential; he almost overloaded the Engine during his first session. What did they want with him? What did they want with this entire project, actually? Why did they want to produce artificial psychics or enhance the abilities of those who already possess psychic powers? Is it for military purposes, is it for the sake of trying to find a cure for the psychic condition, what are they up to?

Also, I uh… I got to see Alkain in action. He was set to duel against one of the other patients in order to test his strength, a young girl. He… he ground her into paste. He was ruthless. She didn't even get one dig into his life points before he pulled out his card, the 'Supernova Dragon', and proceeded to absolutely massacre her. The dragon grabbed her and squashed her against the world so hard there was nothing but a massive smear of blood left where she was before. She didn't even get a chance to scream for help.

Shit… I never thought this project would be going this far. Every horrible atrocity these people are causing just keep piling up. I gotta keep up the façade, otherwise I'll be a potential risk to Chessary, and they don't like potential risks. I don't want to die. But… I have to find a way to stop all this. It might take time, but I have to stop all this. I don't want any more innocent children to die.

I walked by Alkain's cell yesterday too. The kid was screaming his lungs out, yelling things like 'This is all your fault!', and 'It takes a strong man to deny what's right in front of him,' before he went silent and started to cry. That kid is not right in the head, he's hearing voices, talking to people that aren't there. Such a broken mind having that much power can't be a good thing.

So many people dying in there, all because of Kroe's research. I was told to begin with that this was researching a potential renewable source of energy for New Domino's Momentum reactors, through something called 'negative energy'. It didn't make sense to me at the time, but the pay was good, so I signed up because why not?

I swear… I've seen a lot of things here. I don't think half of them are even real. Fostering psychic powers inside young kids and turning them into brutal, ruthless killers… these guys are making human superweapons here. I can feel the anger seething in the air from all these kids, they're so angry and tortured. I wish that I could stop all this, free all the kids and destroy all traces of this research, but the kids are dying like flies. Either they're killed by the Engine tearing them apart and splattering them across the glass sphere, their organs and bones liquefied in a second, or they're killed by Alkain in a duel where they die even slower deaths.

I saw a young kid get cut in half, another get scorched by fire until we could hear his skin crackle like chicken, and a third get eaten and swallowed by a dragon. He's out of his mind. The Dracotherapy is driving him insane, and he's just getting angrier and angrier each time I see him. He scares the crap out of me, even if he's a kid. What is he, eight or nine years old?

He's just so… broken. Whenever he isn't screaming his lungs out in pain or anger, he's in his cell, crying his eyes out and talking to someone who isn't there. He unnerves me to no end, I can't even focus when I have to keep the coding stable whenever he's in the Engine. Kroe's research is going out of hand, I have to find a way to stop it.

Is he even realizing what he's doing here?


	3. Chapter 3: Changing

From: William Edgar Kroe

To: Fuya Eclair

Subject: Lance Éclair

Dear Fuya,

I can understand your worry for your son, and I will not lie to you, he's not in good shape. But I promised you and your late wife that I would find something that could help your son's condition, and I am looking into it. His psychic powers are enormous, and my hypothesis is that they're to blame for his rapidly-worsening condition.

Rest assured; by preventing him from using them via chemical and physical restraints, he will inflict no further harm to others or himself. But I hope that the knowledge that your son has allowed me to accomplish an enormous breakthrough within the utilization of negative energy for the purposes of generating power for all kinds of appliances through his tests.

But I can only do so much. I can't cure him yet, but I have succeeded in slowing it down for now.

I'm sorry.

W.E.K

* * *

Okay, everyone… I have some bad news. Houston… Houston found out about my snooping. I had to flee from the facility, and Chessary is no doubt looking for me as we speak. I'm still intercepting emails here and there, but I can't get into their database like I could before. I'm hiding in the city, in a safe place. Weird things have started happening lately, with small, unprovoked terrorist actions out in New Domino's factory district.

The place is a no man's land now. Unless you've got security out there, then there is no way you can have any sort of production there. Luckily there's some big players out there financing New Domino's economic growth, but smaller companies have been forced to completely abandon New Domino as an opportunity. Meanwhile, Director Goodwin is slowly extending the reach of grounds for arrest here in the City. The downfall of the factory district must very likely have put him on edge, and he doesn't want the city to fall into chaos.

I'm reading reports about Alkain a lot nowadays. It's been a year or two now, and he's showing incredible promise within the Engine. Oh yeah. I'm still seeing their information, I just can't see as much as I could before. I'm worried though, that prick Houston isn't one to let people go. Okay. That's all I have for today.

* * *

Shit… shit shit shit. I snuck back to the Satellite in order to sneak into the research facility in order to get to see Alkain's condition again, and he… oh my god, I can't… okay, I'm fine. Just had to, uh… get it out of my system.

Alkain tore at least seven scientists apart right in front of me. He's grown now, it's been four years in Dracotherapy now, and I thought he looked broken then… he should be about twelve now. He looked like at least fifty years of hard pain in him from what I heard and saw. Killing that kid would be giving him mercy.

But oh god… he overcame sedatives strong enough to knock out an entire football team twice over, and proceeded to rip at least seven people apart right in front of me. He did it so easily like it was routine to him, just tore apart seven people with careers, with families, with _lives._ But the most scary thing... oh man, Dracotherapy is not a good thing. Well, let me put it like this; when I first saw Alkain, his hair was brown, and his eyes were blue.

Now his hair is just red, he's gotten heterochromia, and what appears to be small horns have begun to grow from the sides of his skull. I don't know if it was forced on him by the doctors, if it's the Dracotherapy that's changing him, or if it's something else, I don't know. All I know is that it scares me witless. He starts looking less and less human, and more and more like some sort of devil that's come to destroy us all.

And worse still, Kroe is fostering that anger within him. He's subjecting him to various types of torture, forcing him against other test subjects of Dracotherapy, and I'm sure he's messing with his thoughts too.

What has he done to that kid? This can't be what I was informed about! I was told that this project was looking into how the negative energy used by psychics can be used to power the Momentum Drive that's so widely utilized here in New Domino, not creating human superweapons!


	4. Chapter 4: Escape

From: Carl Houston

To: Sayer Divine

About: Jay Alkain

We've just made a major breakthrough in Jay Alkain's mental conditioning. A few years ago, we discovered the connection between emotion and the increase in intensity of the subject's negative energy output. By subjecting him to… more unconventional methods, his output of energy skyrocketed, exceeding even the output of Éclair and Snow temporarily.

As his sanity deteriorates, his power just keeps going and going, and exposure to the Engine just makes his power go nuts!

Tomorrow we're amping it up to Tier 15. It's gonna be big, Sayer. We can make gods through this! Imagine the potential, Divine. Once Tier 15 is over with, I'll sneak Alkain out and bring him to the Movement.

Then the world will be ours.

* * *

I had tried. Believe me, I had tried everything in my power to try and stop Project Akron. I had tipped off news agencies, but they dismissed my claims as ridiculous. I tried to go to Sector Security, but I found out the hard way that they're on Chessary's payroll, only narrowly escaping custody.

I even tried to tell the Director. I tried everything. I'm sorry everyone, but there's only one option left. I have to end Alkain's life, to override the Engine to make it kill him when he goes inside it tonight. It's the only chance I have to prevent something terrible from happening.

Wish me the best of luck, everyone.

* * *

I'm sorry.

I'm so, so sorry. I've killed so many. My tampering with the Engine was stupid and foolish. The increased pressure must have neutralized his chemical restraints, and now… now Alkain's free. He's on the run, he's out, and he could be anywhere!

Only good thing to come out of all this is that all Houston's dead. I saw Alkain tear him apart myself. I tried to stop laughing, believe me, I tried, but I couldn't.

I'm so sorry.

Alkain's loose now, and it's only a matter of time before he starts murdering people. He's not right in the head, he's delusional and insane. I can't even dare imagine what he'll do once he gets started.

*sound of a door being slammed open*

"Monkey?"

"Doctor Kroe? Okay, I know what this looks like-"

"I need your help. I need your help in stopping Alkain."

"W-what?!"

"It's my fault that my research was used for this. But I know of a way to stop him, Monkey."

"W-why do you need me?!"

"I need you to do the coding for me on the second Dracomorphic Engine."

*sound of feet stamping on the ground*

"No! No, I am not taking part in more experiments where we torture and kill people just because we're looking for a new renewable energy source! Get out!"

"This Engine doesn't work like that! It transmits a signal that interferes with the negative energy and disables control over the victim's motor skills!"

"Oh, so you're making a puppet machine now?!"

"It's my only way to stop Alkain before he does any more damage! Monkey, I'm begging you here! I need you to code the Engine so we can stop Alkain!"

*silence for around 7.29 seconds*

"Okay. Okay, I-I'll come with you."

*sigh*

"Good. Follow me Monkey, and bring your equipment. We're leaving in ten minutes."


	5. Chapter 5: Cloak and Dagger

From: William Edgar Kroe

To: Elan Edgar Kroe

About: What I did

One day, they'll tell you about your father.

I'm sorry.

I love you.

* * *

Okay everyone, I'm at Kroe's lab now. It's in a safe place, so don't worry. Kroe and I are working on the Engine right now, and we're working constantly in order to get it to work. We've got some more or less lucid subjects from the Project here to help us too. They're looking tirelessly for Alkain, trying to find him before he ends up doing something terrible.

I got to talk to one of them. His name was… Lance I think. From the second I met him, I got this odd vibe from him. I felt like I wasn't looking at a young adult in his twenties, who at this point would have his whole life ahead of him, but more the appearance of a war veteran, who really didn't even want to live at this point.

PTSD-suffering and trying his best to atone for his actions that he ended up doing while he was a test subject for Kroe's research. I'm wondering about it myself, why would he want to help the one who is essentially the root to all his suffering?

He told me about one time, one time where he had met Alkain back in the Satellite, a few months before the incident. He said they were talking about nothing really, but then Alkain asked him a question that sparked something in Lance he said; 'When do you think we'll go home?'

Lance told me he answered something like:

'Home? We can't go home. People like us have to cross a line. And when we cross it, there's no going home. No, all we can really hope for, is peace.'

The moment he said that, I realized why Lance was here. He thought; no, he knew that all this was going to end badly. He's here to try and do as much good as he possibly can before everything goes to shit. And when that comes… I don't think Lance will hesitate in ending his own misery.

There's a certain amount of inspiration I'm filled with when I see these kids. They've been tortured at the hands of Kroe, and yet they chose to forgive him. They saw how much Kroe regretted his research, and they understood his pain. And so they came to help, to try and stop Alkain before he ends up killing people.

But those are only a small number. Most of the previous subjects are now running wild in the city, and who knows what might set them off. Perhaps they've headed to the Arcadia Movement, in the hopes that they can find a place there. I pity those misguided kids, from what I've managed to pilfer, the Movement is anything but a safe haven for psychics, and more a small self-contained dictatorship, preparing itself for war.

And though their doomsday weapon Jay Alkain failed, and is now running loose, Sayer's still got insane funding for the Movement through his high position in Chessary. Houston's death didn't slow his plans down one bit. They just altered them slightly.

But we've got the few psychics out there and looking for Alkain and trying to recapture any other previous Project Akron subjects before they end up hurting others or themselves, but so far, we've found no one, and Alkain is still on the loose.

Stay inside and stock up everyone, because what's coming isn't gonna be nice. Keep off the street, and be sure to report any suspicious activity to Sector Security. At the very least, it'll give our guys a much easier time to find those who are out there, and hopefully stop them.

Wish us the best of luck, everyone. Hopefully we can stop this before it gets too bad.


	6. Chapter 6: Back Then

From: Carl Houston

To: Sayer Divine

About: Anarchy Road

Look, I know how your PTSD is wearing on you. You've seen horrors unlike anything that's ever occurred on Planet Earth before. You've lived through hell, Sayer Divine, and you came out alive.

I don't think I have to tell you how much I respect you for how well you held out there, Sayer. The devotion to what you do is unlike anything I've ever seen.

I'll help you with your cause. Together, we're going to make the world a better place for people like you.

Houston

* * *

Fuck… We just momentarily got a bead on Alkain today. We found him in the Satellite, one of ours, Anna Alexi found him. She tried to talk him to his senses, but he was completely out of it. He couldn't remember anything, but he was hell-bent on finding out, and was convinced that Anna was just taunting him.

She tried to make him snap out of it by beating him to his senses, but…

He killed her.

I saw her being blown away and grind against the bridge, leaving a long, thick trail of blood before hitting one of the main walls, and her head was flattened by the momentum. That sound… I don't think I'll ever get over that. I felt like I was about to vomit.

And even worse, Sector Security got their hands on him afterwards. They've stepped up security with anti-psychic measures, so we can't get inside the Facility. Although, intelligence tells us that he's on death row, and he's to be executed tomorrow for the murder of at least seven Sector Security officers.

Now all we can do is hope that they manage to kill him.

I spoke with Kroe today about the communications between Sayer and Houston, and their plan to use the research of Project Akron to create artificial psychics and start a war. Kroe then told me something. Something that clicked. I… I have the interview here. Lemme start it real quick…

* * *

KROE: Sayer was in Anarchy Road. You ever heard about that?

MONKEY: Uhh, I don't think I have.

KROE: It's the name of a small territory down in the Middle East. About twenty years ago, there was an outbreak of psychics in the area, and within days, fighting began to break out. Psychics were going crazy, killing and destroying everything in sight. The area was declared a no-man's land and under a strict no-fly zone even to this day.

MONKEY: Woah.

KROE: I know. As part of a business deal, Sayer had to fly across the world. His plane was downed above Anarchy Road and crash-landed. Most thought him dead. Then, a couple of years later, he walks out of the place alive. He talked to me about some crazy things happening there. He saw how everyone was treated, especially the psychics. They're hunted like animals, the populace believes them to be monsters. Worse still, Sayer manifested psychic powers himself after a few months down there.

MONKEY: What? How does that work?

KROE: I don't know, but something must have snapped in him down there. Seeing all that horror, combined with the mental stress that psychic abilities put on the user, he dramatically changed back then. I think seeing all that pain and prejudice made him want to make life better for those who had psychic powers. The Movement's goals and methods are extreme, but I don't think he's a bad person. Just misguided.


	7. Chapter 7: Escape

From: Nokra

To: Monkey

About: Akron

What would you say is the most horrible; doing something horrible to someone intentionally, or doing something horrible, but you think you're doing something good for them?

When you become so deluded that you can't see the boundary between good and evil anymore? When you become so desensitized by it all that you begin to believe your own lies?

The desire to be a hero makes the most heinous villains.

* * *

Alkain got loose from the Facility. What's worse, he didn't just force his way out. No, someone snuck him out. Someone has contacts in the Facility and had him released.

We're almost certain that it's Sayer, but we can't move against him. His army of psychics is just too big, and we risk a completely absurd amount of collateral damage and preventable deaths. We don't want to start a war, so we just have to wait for an opening.

What's worse, the factory district is starting to get antsy. Riots and fighting is breaking out almost daily now, and the few psychics that are here have to fend attacks off to protect our civilian camp.

We've got an old Chessary factory taken over, and we're using it to keep the young ones from Project Akron and those who are simply too torn and broken to fight. The psychic in charge of the camp is called Snow, I think. Never got the chance to catch her first name.

I think I interviewed her as well, and I've got the tape right… here.

* * *

MONKEY: So, why're you here, Snow?

SNOW: You know that most of the subjects at Project Akron were just picked up from the streets, right? Well, not all of them.

MONKEY: What do you mean?

SNOW: I have a little brother. He's suffering from leukemia. Kroe offered to pay for his treatment if I were to join the program. Needless to say, I accepted.

MONKEY: But that doesn't explain why you're still here, why you're helping stop Alkain.

SNOW: About nine million people live here in this city. Many of them have little siblings like me. I'm not about to let them die just because I miss my little brother.

MONKEY: So you trust Kroe's decision completely?

SNOW: Absolutely. He regrets what he did, and when he saw the chance to do something good to atone, hell yeah he took it.

* * *

It really warms my heart, actually. To think that even thinking about all this pain and suffering these guys suffered at the hands of Kroe, they forgive him and want to help. Then I got to think about Alkain as well. As far as I could tell from what Anna managed to telepathically send back was that he was out of his mind.

Delusional and crazy. I'm beginning to think that he's beyond saving, but to be honest, I think that's for the best.

What he's been through…

Death would just be a mercy for the poor kid.


	8. Chapter 8: Recreation

From: William Edgar Kroe

To: Sergey Blaze

About: Anarchy Road

Hello, old friend. It's been a while.

New Domino is going to hell real fast. We're holding out, but this is all turning into Anarchy Road very fast. I need your help in keeping my project safe before I can stop all this bloodshed.

Please, my friend. I need your help.

* * *

Okay everyone, I've got some good news, and some really bad news.

The good news is that we've managed to stop Alkain. Lance left him bleeding out on the floor of a penthouse.

I just- I can't tell you just how much of a relief that is. That delusional psychopath is dead now.

On the other hand, Jay stirred up some serious trouble before we got to him. He killed Sayer in cold blood and let his entire army of psychics run wild around New Domino. Fighting has broken out between Sector Security and the psychics and over a thousand people have already been confirmed dead.

Most of the fighting is in the Factory District, but it's fierce, and our psychics have to constantly be on guard; raiding parties are a daily occurrence now.

Kroe unveiled the purpose of the new Dracomorphic Engine; instead of acting as a transferring mechanism for negative energy, it instead drains positive energy from a subject in order to emit negative energy. Kroe plans to use that energy to transmit a signal that can disable a person's psychic powers, and even mind-control them.

His intention is to use it to stop all the fighting, but the problem is that in order for the Engine to work, we need a psychic who can produce positive energy. And there's only one such psychic in the world that has shown that ability, and is strong enough to produce enough energy.

One Akiza Izinski.

We found her along with Alkain in the penthouse. A stroke of luck, to be honest. We've performed a few tests though, and although she does produce high levels of positive energy, we've seen some anomalies in the energy output. Occasionally, she emits small bursts of negative energy as well.

We don't know what's producing it, but it's a big setback. If she didn't produce any negative energy, we could finish the signal in about three hours. But in order to ensure Izinski's safety and the safety of the Engine, we have to slow down the process.

*deep breath*

It now takes five days for the signal to complete. We have to wait for five days and until then, we can't save anyone. I hate it, I hate that I have to let people die, but we can't do anything about it.

Let's hope nothing goes wrong.

* * *

Okay, the first day of the signal-adjusting is over. We're getting closer, but… I… yesterday, Kroe and I found out why Izinski is releasing outbursts of negative energy.

It's… it's…

Oh I don't know how to say this.

She's…

She's… uhh…

*deep breath*

She's **pregnant.**

Akiza is pregnant, and her unborn child is a psychic. So powerful in fact, that while the child is barely a month into the pregnancy, it's already radiating psychic energy. Both positive AND negative energy at the same time, which means that whoever made her pregnant, is from Project Akron, as only artificial psychics release negative energy, as opposed to natural psychics, who release positive energy.

We found her along with Jay Alkain.

I don't know how to believe that, and I wish I hadn't figured that out by myself, but…

This young girl is carrying the unborn child of a maniac, a psychopath, a delusional madman who just wants to kill and destroy.

Even when he's dead, he just refuses to stop tormenting us.

* * *

From: Sergey Blaze

To: William Edgar Kroe

About: re: Anarchy Road

I'm on my way.

I won't let anyone suffer like I did.


	9. Chapter 9: Return

Everybody… I won't play around with you. I won't hide anything. To be honest, I don't even think this will reach anyone of you. The civil war that's breaking out across New Domino has taken so many lives already, and the death toll just keeps climbing.

For every minute we safely pump the required energy out of Akiza in order to power the engine, at least two people are killed.

And as if it couldn't get any worse…

He's back.

Jay Alkain is back. Lance couldn't kill him. He's still here, and reports say that he's heading here. Neither Lance nor Snow can go to stop him; they're both too busy fending off attacks from the desperate gangs that are constantly fighting in order to gain resources.

Sergey Blaze is the only one who can and is brave enough to go and face Alkain. That kid, he's got powers beyond anything we can understand. He can start some sort of 'Darkstar Duel', which not only changes the rules of the game, but also puts the souls of everyone in the vicinity at stake as well.

And not only that, but Blaze talked to me earlier this day; before he went out to stop Alkain. He talked to me about… Anarchy Road, and what actually happened there. I think I have the recording somewhere…

*click*

BLAZE: So, what do you want to know about Anarchy Road, Monkey? What has piqued your interest?

MONKEY: Well, a lot of things, actually. Mostly I just want to hear about your involvement in it.

BLAZE: Well… I was there.

MONKEY: Pardon?

BLAZE: When the fighting began to erupt in the area, I was part of the multinational team sent in to investigate just what was going on in there.

MONKEY: And what did you find?

BLAZE: Insanity. I found insanity, madness, genocide and destruction. I found nothing but that. The atrocities that happened there are something I wish I had never seen.

MONKEY: Woah.

BLAZE: It was a miracle that I even made it out alive. A good few of those who were in the team could barely stomach it. I cannot say I blame them, fighting kids armed with nothing but rage and dark energy is anything but heroic.

MONKEY: About that; why did Anarchy Road even happen? What caused it?

BLAZE: Did Kroe tell you about how they managed to transfer the dark energy into the body of the subject?

MONKEY: Yeah, by turning it into electricity through the Engine. But he never told me where the dark energy came from.

BLAZE: It came from a strange artifact that Kroe dug up. Have a guess where it was buried.

MONKEY: Anarchy Road?

BLAZE: Exactly. The amount of dark energy inside the artifact was insane. God knows how long dark energy has been seeping out of it. When the whole disaster started something happened with that artifact and it began periodically releasing waves of dark energy in the form of thunderstorms.

MONKEY: So through these thunderstorms, the artifact created psychics all on its own?

BLAZE: Normal psychic powers are unstable enough as they are. Psychics that use dark energy are even worse; prone to insanity, mental instability, cognitive dissonance and even physical mutations in extreme cases.

MONKEY: Oh my god…

BLAZE: I even found myself having these powers when I managed to escape Anarchy Road. I've refrained from using them as much as possible, and I'm taking immense amounts of medication just to ward off the side effects of the powers. Though today will be the day when I have to use them again.

MONKEY: Woah… that's… that's really selfless.

BLAZE: I hope so. I wish I could stop Alkain, but his powers have too good a grip on him. If there is to be any hope of stopping him, then I have to kill him.

MONKEY: To be honest, I think that's for the best. I saw him back in the facility; the kid was absolutely insane. I don't think there was any hope for him since the day he first went in the Engine.

BLAZE: Is he really that bad?

MONKEY: He's killed dozens of people already, and he thinks we're trying to kill him, so now he's coming here in order to kill us.

BLAZE: Poor kid.

*click*


	10. Chapter 10: Genocide

There was over nine million people alive in New Domino the day before Jay Alkain woke up.

We all had a chance to escape. Instead, we chose damnation.

How many people will be alive tomorrow? I thought my duty was to protect this city from Project Akron.

I was wrong.

I haD to protect it from Jay Alkain.

And I failed.

We all failed.

It's over.

* * *

THE BRAVE SOULS WHO FELL TO PROTECT THE INNOCENT SOULS OF NEW DOMINO

THEIR SACRIFICE WILL NOT BE FORGOTTEN BY THE DAMNED ONES

\- Ben Edie - Chantal Izumi - Kouta Violet - William Edgar Kroe - Doccy Seraphim -

\- Lina Emmie - Keiko Kichirou - Micheal Jasmyn - Alyce Denton - Akiza Izinski -

\- Suzi Randell - Jacklyn Issac - Sergey Blaze - Eva Lake - Fuya Éclair -

\- Keeleigh Katrina - Leo - Rowley Garnet - Monkey - Ed Snow -

\- Peace Akane - Luna - Reginald Kohaku - Kerena Spike - Yoko Alkain -

\- Adamina Kalyn - Terell Yoshiko - Herbie Keefe - Lance Éclair - Sayer Divine -

\- Gottfried Sophia - Andy Lessie - Kierra Easton - Jonah Mordecai - Thane Alkain -

\- Joseph Conrad - Adelle Gladwyn - Andella Snow - Candy Leila - Sky Shimmering -

\- Avila Lisbeth - Kalie Tageam - Derrick Nolene - Mimi Sophy - Jay Alkain -

* * *

 **THE END**


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